Sunday, October 13, 2013

Nothing will make a homeschool day go down more quickly than whining and complaining. If everytime you pull out a subject your children say, “Mooommm, we don’t want to do math.” or “Mooommmm, we hate history.” then you will probably begin to despise homeschooling. We don’t want to continually fight or coerce our children into wanting to do school. We all do things that we don’t want to do. Think cleaning the toilet or the chore I like the least - folding laundry, it is so pointless. I know there have been points where we have all needed a refresher in this, including me. I really do dislike folding laundry and have at times been very whiny, at which point my kids quote this verse to me.

Bible Verse - Phil 2:14 - 15 says, “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.”

I modify this verse to “Do everything without whining or complaining so that you may shine like a star in the heavens”. I have found star stickers and star charts for my younger kids and every time they obeyed or asked for something without whining or complaining then they receive a star. We have taken our kids out to look at the night sky with blankets and talked about how the stars light up the night sky and the Bible talks about how we can light up the world around us if we do everything without whining or complaining.

Bible Verse for the second or third day - Proverbs 16:24 says, “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”

The Bible talks a lot about our tones and how we say things. As an object lesson for my kids, I got some honey out and told them that the Bible says that pleasant words and tones are sweet. I gave them a demonstration of pleasant words, like “Yes, Mom, I am coming”, or “No, thank you” and then gave them a taste of the honey. I then pulled out the Apple Cider Vinegar and told them that whining, complaining and arguing are vinegar words and tones and had them take a taste of the vinegar. I still use this today. If my kids are using honey words, I will put out the honey and if my kids are using vinegar words or tones I give a warning by pulling both the honey and vinegar and asking which they would rather have.

To encourage younger children, I used a star chart with stickers for every time they asked for something without whining and when they get to 10, give them a prize. For extensive whining, that doesn't break with positive reinforcement,I would pull out the Apple Cider Vinegar and give them a taste. Remind them that we would rather use pleasant words versus vinegar words. (If you think I am being mean, check out the health benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar - it's really good for the digestion.)

For older kids, especially those who are whining and complaining every time you ask them to do something or you ask them to get our their math, spelling or any subject they dislike, I would use a marble jar for every time they do something without whining or complaining. You could also let them them grab a honey stick or a M&M to give them a treat for obeying right away and saying, "Yes, Mom!". For a reminder, I would pull out the Apple Cider Vinegar for every time they whined or complained. Categories: parenting